Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-24
FORTS OF SOLID STEEL.
n Bold Idea in Ironwork Such as Might
Abash Great Vulcan.
New Orleans Plcayune.

new orleans
When Sir Henry Bessemer began his eX.
perlments, cast-steel railroad bars were
worth more than $500 ton; that is the
same thing as saying they were worth Sc
much that they could not be used at all
Now they can be bought for SIS to $50 a
ton, and it is certainly impossible to say
that the limit has been reached. The diff
fculty with the costly steel plates for
arnor for ships and forts lies in the fact
that they have to be cast by costly pro-
cess, their edges plaued, and then they
must be bolted together and fitted in
place. To make fort is a tedious and
very costly process. But Sir Henry him
self says that it is not necessary. No one
has attempted to obviate il, and no indi-
vidual can; but nation could do it. Sup
pose that we wish to cast the side of q
fort in steel, 5 ay 200 feet long, sixteen feet
high and three feet thick. We have only
to bu Id a gigantic mold out OF brick and
concrete, build on top OF this mold say
eight or ten twcntyton Bessemer con-
verters capable OF turning out three
charges in twentv-fOur hours they ~ uld
run into the mold ton of molten steel
every thirty seconds, and tie mold would
be tilled in sixteen houlS. The melted
steel would sOlidify as it was poured in,
so that there would only be six or eight
inches of melted metal on the surface at
any stage of the filing.
1t sounds preposterouS to speak of cast
ing the whole side of g fort in one plate
or piece, em0rasures and all. But Sir
Henry says it can be done. He will uu-
dertake also TO cast the turret for war
ship in one solid piece Of steel. 1t makes
no difference what shape the fort or turret
is 10 take, or where or now many are to
be its loop holes or ports; it is merely 8
question of building the matriX in The
first instance in this or that shape. Sup
pose that the face of a fort weighs 1000
tons; It is clear that it could be cast in a
single piece for about $4,000. Built up
of plates in the usual style it might cost
ten times that sum. IL is but step from
this theory to one for the casting Of an
entire fortress. Whether turrets can be
cast as proposed is another question, be-
cause the difficulty of casting them in stu
would have to be surmounted. 1t would
not be difficult to cast the turret in ma
trix on shore; but to put it in position at
terward would tax the ingenuity Of the
engineers.
Sir Henry says that fort cast in one
piece three feet thick could not be de-
stroyed by any artillery now in existence.
At any rate, the process of casting being
cheap and easy, the thickness can be in
creased to any required extent. 1t is
only necessary that there should be
enough converters in operation to supply
sufficient flow of molten steel. 1t
would need a twenty ton converter for
every seventY-hye square feet of horizon
tsl section. There is no limit practically
TO the number of conyerters which could
be caused to pour theiI floods into a
matriS for fort, but it would burst the
mstrix if too many conyerters were
emptying into it at the same time. 1t
would not be unreasonable for Congress
to authorize an experiment on these lines.